One universal account = bad idea

A lot of places that are operated by either Google, Microsoft, and maybe some other companies, let you have one single account that you can use to login to any of their services. At first glance, that really seems like a convenience to only have to remember one login and one password for anything.

But really, I always end up signing up multiple accounts anyway. Why? Well, think about it, if someone somehow managed to get your login info… like if you’re one of those people who puts a sticky note right on your monitor with the info (that’s another terrible idea – don’t do it!). Then once these people have your info, they’ll have access to EVERYTHING.

Take your Google Account, for example. If you only have one Google Account that you use for everything, people will have access to your emails, your AdWords campaigns, Adsense, if you use Google Checkout and have your credit card information stored, they’ll have that too, all of your Google Docs & Spreadsheets, your Blogger blogs, your Picasaweb photos, and everything else that’s powered by Google that you happen to use. That’s kind of a scary thought. Do you really want people to have access to ALL of that?? I sure don’t.

That’s why I always create a new account for every service instead of using a universal login. It may be a hassle to remember all kinds of different usernames and passwords, but at least that way it’s more secure.